January 14, 2010

our latest news

With my new usage of Facebook, I often forget to update here and I really want to change that. But on the other hand I sure don't want to state any posting goals! That would drive me insane.

The house we moved to after leaving SR's was a VERY small house approx. 500 sq. ft. The "little blue house" was great for us to be able to get back into a home but not so great space wise because we couldn't even get all our stuff out of storage! So if we could find a house that was a little bit larger yet higher rent we probably could afford it -- IF it would fit all our stuff from storage so we could cut out that expense.

We found out one was available with the same landlord about 35 days after moving to the little blue house. This was great for us, but sucked cause we then had to pack everything up again to move. But it's nice that we only had to go around the corner so not too much gas being used to move things. It's so close that we can see one house from the other and the kids can run back and forth for anything we forget.

Some other great things are - it's BIG without being too big for us. It's about 900 sq. ft. with a basement. It also only has 2 bedrooms (as did the little blue house) but after living in Iowa Falls this is really roomy! And the bedrooms are some of the largest I've ever seen! The one that the kids have called theirs is large enough that it could easily be split in half which is an idea for later (the landlord won't care either way).

But the boys have already been looking at the basement for possible bedroom ideas as there is an area that is ideal. I'm just not so sure about winter use. Plus, I already have a million ideas for using the basement for storage of stuff and food. Darkside and I have also debated many recreational uses like exercise/weight room, a pool table, or my favorite - a hot tub! We will have to see =)

The yard is more ideal for things I'm wanting to do than over at the little blue house. This house's yard is nice since it's mostly enclosed with a privacy fence. I'm not so sure about parking here though. I also will need to figure out where we are going to put up a clothes line as there isn't one here yet. But I know that now we will be able to have bunnies - YEA!!

Although gardening wise I think I'll have to stick to containers and the big one out at SR's. The yard here is smaller than the little blue house and very shaded. Not that I don't think it'll work, cause I'll MAKE it work! And I think I'll have fewer problems with neighborhood kid problems with my gardening efforts here. The school buses all let out right by the gardening area at the little blue house so I'm pretty sure I would have had a HUGE battle gardening there. Out at SR's I only have to worry about wild animals and the local bean farmer with his toxic fertilizer spray =(

I still have plans to ask the landlord to lease part of the little blue house's yard to me for use. It's an idea Darkside, SR, and I have all discussed. I'll do a more in depth post about that tomorrow.

But everything at the new house is NOT perfect or great. The whole inside definitely needs painted. It was recently infested with cockroaches (more on this below). The water lines are busted in many places, with the hot water heater not working currently. Almost every window is in need of some sort of repair, inside or out. The basement and yard is in need of cleaning. The floors bounce terribly just like the house in Iowa Falls. The floor coverings in most rooms need replaced. This is all I have noticed in the 3 days I've been here. I'm sure the list will be longer as time goes on.

The landlord we are renting from is notorious in the area for having rentals that have cockroaches. Although at both houses we have been lucky with the weather killing off most of them, I'm not stupid enough to think they are all gone. This house was heavily infested but also experienced at least a week if not more of temperatures at or below 0F. And even though everything I've read says that at those temperatures they can't live, I'm NOT taking that chance! Plus, we are next door to another rental from the same landlord so there's a good chance that they could walk over to our new house. Orkin will be a constant visitor for the next year, AT LEAST! ~~ I REFUSE to live with ANY bugs! I even throw fits about having piss ants LOL!

I think that this house has LOTS of potential. The landlord has already been asking us if we want to buy it on contract - NO we're not yet even thinking about it! But I do think there is a good potential for us to stay here for the next year and this IS something we are debating.

Other than all that - some of us are sick right now (me, Kaos King, #4) and Darkside has been working. He likes the job, but the inflexibility of days off sucks. He's thinking about looking for a different job, especially since a couple of weeks ago he learned of a possible job opening in a more flexible business. If we ever find any time to do anything like that!